Cooperative Development Institute: Northeast Center for Cooperative Business

The Cooperative Fund of New England has been providing loans to cooperatives and small nonprofits serving the needs of low-income people for 35 years. Having started with $11,000 in social investments and an initial $2,000 loan to Buffalo Mountain Food Co-op in 1975, CFNE has over the years made over $19 million in loans, without losing a penny of investors' capital. Read more about their work helping to create good green jobs, healthy local food systems, affordable homes, and cooperative networks in the 2009 Annual Report.

There are some great ideas being proposed at the "Revelation to Action" contest sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee and Ashoka's Changemakers. They want to find and help fund the most innovative ideas and organizations that strengthen and improve communities in Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The launch of the Keep Local Farms program in New England, developed by the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council, New England Dairy Promotion Board, and the New England Family Dairy Farm Cooperative (NEFDFC) with support from CDI, was featured in a recent news release by the Massachusetts Dept. of Agricultural Resources.